In light of emerging demographics within the American
electorate, by which I mean the growing youth vote, and the fact that young
women are flocking to Bernie Sanders - and in view of the brouhaha about
remarks made by Gloria Steinem and Madeleine Albright -- I'm concerned. I'm not as bothered by the Steinem and
Albright remarks as others are, although I was shocked by both utterances.
Anyone, in a moment of frustration or fatigue, can make thoughtless or
insulting comments they regret the moment the words leave their mouth.

My cri de coeur is
about how Hillary Clinton and her spokespeople are failing miserably in
addressing a fundamental point that needs to be made to young, idealist women
because none of them has one clue about what life was like for females before
HRC and other Second Wave feminists crawled into the trenches and fought like
hell for women's rights. They have no sense of women's history and how it
affects them.

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Alice Paul and other women were tortured trying to secure
women's right to vote. How dare young voters, especially women, say they will
stay home if Bernie isn't the Democratic candidate? Contraception was illegal
in Connecticut,
even for married women, until the 1960s. Want to think about what it was like
to miss a period before Roe v. Wade? (If you were wealthy you flew to Puerto Rico for an abortion; poor women used hangers.) Know
what it was like when nursing, teaching or being a secretary were your only
options? It goes on and on. For a full picture, read Gail Collins's book When
Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the
Present (2009), which begins with a young woman being sent home from
traffic court because she was wearing crisply ironed trousers and includes
stories like the one about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was told she should give up
law school and make babies.

Since no one reading this column is likely to run out and get
Collins's informative book, here are a few examples of what life was like for
females in my day. When I bought my first car in the 60's the bank insisted my
father -- who was in bankruptcy to the same bank, sign my loan agreement. Once I
got married, only my husband's credit mattered. And when I went to graduate
school I was assessed out-of-state tuition fees by the University of Maryland
because although I met every criteria for in-state fees, I didn't earn half our
family income, so legally as they saw it, I was my British husband's dependent,
just as if I were his child.

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Why don't Hillary and her deputies respond to media
questions about why women aren't voting for her by noting that young women
don't know any of this stuff, and don't realize how threatened their futures
are if the wrong man wins? Do young voters know that women have been arrested
for feticide following miscarriage in this country, or that even if raped they
could be forced to carry a pregnancy to term? Do they get that lack of pay
equity means they will have substantially smaller pensions or social security
checks in old age than men? Do they even care that there is a tax on tampons or
that Viagra was covered by medical insurance when birth control wasn't?

When late term abortion comes up why don't Hillary's folks
tell it like it is: Third trimester abortion happens very rarely when a woman
(and her partner) find out, after 20 weeks of pregnancy, that their much wanted
unborn child has a horrific anomaly, perhaps a missing brain or other organs.
These parents have made the agonizing decision to terminate out of a very deep
love for that child and the quality of its life. No woman -- not one --
flippantly decides she doesn't want the kid that late in pregnancy, and it
reveals the deepest disrespect for women to accuse them of such mindlessness.

Don't get me wrong: This is not a pro-Hillary vs Bernie argument.
It's a plea to young women and to the political campaigns that want to include
them. The idealism driving young women
voters to the Sanders campaign is a good thing. But Bernie, too, needs to speak
to these issues, at least once in a while, so that his female followers can
think through their voting decisions with a full deck of cards.

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On the Clinton
side, young women need to know about and appreciate the direct experience,
skill set, and yes, scars that Hillary brings to the arena, especially if they
are concerned about their future as females in an extremely challenging time,
economically, socially and politically.
This could be the most important election of their lives. The time leading
up to it should not be reduced to simplistic sound bites, silly squabbling,
incomplete or out-of-context information, or serious omissions of fact and
history. There is just too much riding on knowing as much as we can and voting
wisely.

Elayne Clift is a writer,lecturer, workshop leader and activist. She is senior correspondent for Women's Feature Service, columnist for the Keene (NH) Sentinel and Brattleboro (VT) Commons and a contributor to various publications internationally. (more...)